Woman tells tribunal how psychiatrist laughed at her self-harm injury

Three patients claim Dr Khidir Abdulrahim acted inappropriately towards them between June and August 2011

A Medical Practitioners Tribunal has heard allegations against a psychiatrist working in Powys

A psychiatrist humiliated a woman with an eating disorder by laughing at her self-harm injury, a tribunal has heard.

The patient said she felt “fat, ugly and terrified” when Dr Khidir Abdulrahim made the insensitive comment during an examination at a hospital in Powys.

The vulnerable patient had been admitted to the hospital after she needed 19 stitches to treat a wound on her abdomen.

She is one of three patients the former staff grade psychiatrist is alleged to have acted inappropriately towards between June and August 2011.

He is also accused of trying to kiss and grope a colleague at a Worcestershire hospital, where he worked as a locum two months earlier.

Giving evidence at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester, the patient said Dr Abdulrahim came to her room with a nurse to examine her injury.

She said: “I felt under pressure from the doctor to agree to what he was asking – to come into my room – and I felt trapped because he was between me and the door.”

She continued: “I was lying on my bed, which was directly in line with the entrance to the room, in the corner of the room and he came in and sat to the side of the bed alongside where I was and asked if I could move my clothing so he could see my scars.

“Then, when he saw my injury, he just laughed at me and said ‘surely you would have gone to a plastic surgeon if you had wanted to get rid of this fat’.”

She added: “It caused me to feel humiliated, fat, ugly and terrified to the point where I was kicking and screaming.

“I was too scared to say anything and was kicking and screaming until other nurses came in.”

She told the panel she refused to sleep in the bed following the alleged incident and said the ordeal “really set me back”.

Dr Abdulrahim, who is not present or represented at the hearing, had denied the claims when confronted with the allegation.

His response was that he did not laugh at her, but may have mentioned a plastic surgeon in the context of “proper therapeutic intervention”.

Another woman told the panel of a consultation with Dr Abdulrahim to discuss her medication at a Powys treatment centre.

“Straight away I felt something was wrong,” she said, recalling how he sat close to her “invading my personal space’”.

“I said I was not feeling well and wanted to discuss my medication. After that, things went downhill,” she continued.

“He basically said 'how was my sex life?' and kept saying ‘do you realise foreplay is very important’ and after that everything went blank.”

The patient said her “head was spinning” after the comments and she was left feeling “physically sick”.

When questioned about the incident, Dr Abdulrahim said it was the patient who had mentioned sex and he had discussed the topic in a clinical context, the panel heard.

Asked about his version of events, the witness simply replied: “No way”.

The third patient is too ill to attend the hearing but the panel has heard how Dr Abdulrahim tried to hug and kiss her while she was alone in her hospital room after telling her she was “beautiful and intelligent”.

Consultant Dr Anders Skarsten said he was “stunned” after his colleague told him “I have betrayed my patients, the team and my reputation” after the woman, known as Patient A, made the allegations.

Dr Abdulrahim’s locum contract was terminated in August 2011, two days after the alleged incident, and he has not worked as a psychiatrist since.

But the panel heard that he was reported to hospital bosses in Worcestsershire in April 2011 for his alleged inappropriate behaviour towards a female staff member.

The woman said the “flirtatious” doctor tried to kiss her on the lips and touched her breast while he was working alongside her.

She told the panel that he was “initially quite charming”, but “became predatory when alone” with female colleagues.

Dr Abdulrahim, who qualified as a doctor in Sudan, has made no admissions to any of the allegations.

WalesOnline is part of Media Wales, publisher of the Western Mail, South Wales Echo, Wales on Sunday and the seven Celtic weekly titles, offering you unique access to our audience across Wales online and in print.